The WtE Design Lab generated a second associative model to address a variety of possible configurations that a WtE plant could adopt to better integrate it within a given urban context and plot size. This model accounts for all the components that form a WtE plant as well as all the constraints attached to them. It allows designers to move components around to create novel WtE configurations while keeping a realistic technological outcome. Components can be moved, rotated, and stacked, and the model is able to detect problems, such as collisions, proximity constraints, and more in real time.

The basic principle behind this model is that every component of a WtE plant has connections to others; nothing works in isolation. In order to make design decisions, all the relevant connections and parameters must be taken into account and satisfied. The associative model facilitates this process by re-computing these connections at ease and noting areas of conflict so they can be quickly addressed.

With this associative model, the WtE Design Lab tested a number of strategies for better adapting WtE plants to a range of urban contexts.

This video shows a model of how components in a waste-to-energy facility are connected. The associative model allows components to be moved around, and makes design experiments easier.